2019, HD Video installation
[Teil 1] Exsternsteine (35:22)
[Teil 2] Wewelsburg (13:26)
[Teil 3] Hermannsdenkmal (13:25)
Externsteine, Wewelsburg, Hermannsdenkmal: The trilogy „Ancestors“ shows these three legendary places in East Westphalia and Lippe from different points of view. Above all it is about conversations with the people there: trippers are looking for recreation, historians for facts, esoterics for places of power and Nazis for the old Teutons. They all tell what they feel, what they have experienced and what they believe to know. At the Externsteine, archaeologists dug in the Nazi period for the roots of the Irminsul, the Germanic world tree.
The Wewelsburg is a Renaissance castle near Paderborn, which Heinrich Himmler wanted to transform by massive additions and conversions to the center of the SS. In the neighbouring village he had a concentration camp built for it.In Detmold „Hermann the Cherusker“ raises his sword threatening towards France.
The colossal monument was built between 1838 and 1875.
In the peopleʼs stories historical facts mix with myths of heroes, anti- heroes and the origins of the Germans. The result is an oscillating mosaic of uses and instrumentalizations of history, of encounters and exclusions. They range from a picnic with the family to the desire for a higher meaning wich may become dangerous sometimes.